The Civil War’s Battle of Malvern Hill was fought on July 1, 1862, near the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia.
And, as with the battles of Fort Sumter and Gettysburg, Malvern Hill had an influence on baby names. I’ve found dozens of U.S. babies with the name “Malvern Hill” — though many got the combo decades after the fact, which is interesting.
Here are the Malvern Hills I found from the 1860s specifically:
- Malvern Hill Lash (Virginia, 1862)
- Malvern Hill Barnum (New York, 1863)
- Union soldier Henry Barnum, the father of Malvern Hill Barnum, was declared dead following the Battle of Malvern Hill. After his family held a funeral for him, he was discovered alive in a Confederate prison. He was rescued and sent home in mid-July. Baby Malvern arrived the following September.
- Malvern Hill Logan (Georgia, 1864)
- Malvern Hill Watts (Missouri, 1864)
- Malvern Hill Foster (Virginia, 1865)
- Malvern Hill Hill (Virginia, 1868) — yes, Hill twice
Speaking of Hill twice…the name Malvern can be traced back to the Welsh words moel and bryn, meaning “bare, bald” and “hill.” So, if you take etymology into account, the place name Malvern Hill is itself redundant (“bald hill hill”) and Mr. Malvern Hill Hill’s full name actually contains three words for hill.
Source: Battle of Malvern Hill – Wikipedia, Notes for Henry Alanson Barnum, Malvern Hill Barnum – Find a Grave
Depending on the timing and location of those later Malvern Hills their naming could have been the result of the same ‘Confederate nostalgia’ that brought about the majority of the generic Confederate monuments found throughout the southeastern US. Most of them were erected in the early 1900s. The one at our county courthouse is typical of them and was erected in 1911. Just a possibility.
Interesting idea! The majority of the post-1860s Malvern Hills were born in the South, and only a few of them were juniors (i.e., named after their fathers), so “Confederate nostalgia” could certainly have played a part.